(This original, copyrighted material may not be copied, cut and pasted, published or otherwise reproduced in any way in any medium, which means, don’t post this on another website or BBS. If you want somebody else to see this, send, share or tweet a link or post a link to this page.)

PTR HONDA'S Danny Webb and Luca Marconi finished 17th and 18th in today's 12th round of the World Supersport Championship at Magny Cours in France.

Starting from sixth on the grid, Danny was unable to capitalise on his superb qualification whilst Luca showed his fighting spirit and simply got faster as the race progressed, going nearly one second quicker in the race than his qualifying time.

Lee Johnston had looked set for a top 20 finish before crashing late in the race losing the front.

US ace Corey Alexander enjoyed a battle with team mate Nacho Calero during his debut, eventually finishing 22nd. The unfortunate Nacho retired with a technical problem just before the end of the race.

PTR Honda sends its congratulations to Sam Lowes on winning the 2013 World Supersport Championship. The 13th and final round of the Championship is at Jerez in Spain on October 20th.

PTR Honda Team Manager Simon Buckmaster said: "Danny felt the bike didn't work as well in the race as qualifying so we need to look at what happened. We will take the positives from his excellent qualifying run yesterday from this weekend. He knows he has the pace and the bike to run at the front and as his experience in the class grows, so will his results.

"Luca started to show his true form and fought really well in the race. If we can start the next round from this position and confident attitude, he will be back in the points as he deserves.

"Well done to Corey on finishing his first World Championship race. He was as quick in the race as qualifying and now has a marker for next time. He has learnt a huge amount and he will improve with every outing on his PTR Honda.

"Lee and Nacho both failed to finish which is disappointing. Lee I am sure would have been in the top 20 which would have been a major achievement in his first ever WSS race. Let's see what they can achieve next time out at Jerez.

"Congratulations to Sam Lowes on winning the Championship today, he deserves it and we are all very happy for him."

Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India’s Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret finished first and fourth respectively at the 12th round of the FIM Supersport World Championship in Fabien’s home country of France.

Sofuoglu overcame the effects of a big crash in qualifying on Saturday to join the fight for the top three, on a bike that was extensively rebuilt after his fall. On his 2013 Ninja ZX-6R Kenan sat in third place for much of the race before hitting the front and holding off new world Champion Sam Lowes to record his fifth win of the year.

Having started from 18th place on the grid for his home round only one of the best rides of his career looked likely to allow Foret to run near the front and Fabien duly delivered. His team had found a good set-up for the dry conditions, despite having so little dry track time in practice, and Fabien was able to rip through the field to finish fourth. Christian Iddon added to the front-running battle and finished third, despite falling from his bike with two laps to go and bringing out the red flags to stop the race two laps early.

In the championship Lowes has 225 points, Kenan is guaranteed second with 181 and Foret looks set to end the season in third place, as he now enjoys a 17-point advantage over the next best rider.

Sheridan Morais (Go Eleven Kawasaki) took his Ninja ZX-6R to a fine fifth place, having qualified in the same position on the grid. It was a tough race for many other Kawasaki riders, as Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini) crashed out and restarted to finish 14th, while Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) struggled out of the corners and finished his day 15th, scoring a single point. Late replacement rider Matthieu Lagrive (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) fell while in 13th place.

The last round of the championship will take place at Jerez, on October 20th.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “This weekend was really good because yesterday we had a very fast qualifying time but then I had a big crash, and I was scared that I might have damaged the bike too much. We changed a lot of new parts on the bike and I was able to race and stay with Sam Lowes and Christian Iddon in the early laps. Step-by-step I found more confidence and I was quite happy to fight and then to win the race. I knew we could not really keep the world title today but I knew we could still win the race.”

Fabien Foret: “From our starting position maybe we made a small miracle at my home round but not a big enough miracle! I am always disappointed when I am not on the box after the race but we did a good job for the race set-up and in the race. I had a fun race as I passed so many guys on the way through.”

More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Supersport Team:

Pata Honda riders maintain Supersport momentum

Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti finished in sixth and seventh places respectively in today’s World Supersport race at Magny-Cours in France. It was the penultimate race of the season in which Sam Lowes confirmed his 2013 series victory by finishing in second place behind Kenan Sofuoglu.

Starting from eighth place on the grid for the 23-lap race around the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit, van der Mark got a good start. However, his rear grip levels dropped in the second half of the race and the 20-year-old from the Netherlands was forced to concede position.

His Italian team-mate, Zanetti, suffered similar problems, citing an erroneous rear tyre choice. Having started one place in front of van der Mark, the 26-year-old ended the race one place behind, in spite of a crash just before the red flags were waved to stop the race two laps early.

Michael van der Mark – sixth

The start was not too bad and I was able to pass some people. The front three had good pace but I couldn’t pass Tamburini early in the race. When I passed him, I got into a good rhythm but the tyre started to drop and I got slower. I couldn’t match my normal lap times but when two guys passed me I could follow them. Then I got some pace back, but I’m a little bit disappointed. With some more grip I could for sure have been closer to the front.

Lorenzo Zanetti – seventh

I think our choice of tyre was not correct because, although I was able to pass some riders in the first five laps, I tried to follow the first three riders. In the space of two laps, the tyre changed completely and started to move a lot. I think we had the potential to stay with the front group today but instead we were in the second group, which is disappointing. But this is racing and it’s important that we keep learning for next season.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Because of all the rain during the practice and qualifying we were a little unsure about tyre choice. In the race, the grip levels dropped quite a bit and both riders struggled with that and couldn’t do any more.

More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Lowes Scores Maiden World Supersport Title with Yamaha

Yakhnich Yamaha rider Sam Lowes has this afternoon taken the World Supersport Championship title with Yamaha aboard the YZF-R6 at the penultimate round of the 2013 championship in Magny Cours, France. Lowes had come into the weekend 49 points ahead of rival Kenan Sofuoglu and enjoyed a typical battle between the two that saw him secure second on the podium after a red flag brought the race to an early close. The result put the 23yr old British rider on 225 points, 44 clear of Sofuoglu with one race to go.

Lowes has enjoyed a dominant season on the R6, taking an impressive five race wins and a total of ten podiums on his way to his maiden title. The win is also Yamaha’s third World Supersport title in the last five years.

Sam Lowes2013 World Supersport Champion“I’m very happy and want to say a massive thank you to Yamaha and to everybody involved in getting me here. From when I first rode the R6 in Jerez and joined the team I felt a great feeling and I knew we could fight for the championship. To feel it and do it are two different things so I’m very happy to be world champion. Today’s race was great fun, sometimes its nice to be in a battle and take your mind off the bigger picture. I enjoyed that race a lot. I’d like to say a massive thank you to Kenan; he’s a great rider, I classify him as a friend and I respect him a lot for this season. Thank you for the fight! I also want to thank everyone who has got me into the position I am in today.”

Laurens Kleinkoerkamp - Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe“After two great World Supersport titles in 2009 and 2011 with Cal Crutchlow and Chaz Davies its great to see the strong points of our supersport machine are still making it the best 600. We’ve put a lot of effort in this season and as a result we’re back on top and we’ve got another championship. Yamaha would like to say a big thank you to Sam who has been doing an amazing job and also the team who worked hard all year. I also need to say big thank you to Yamaha Motor Europe Technical Coordinator Torleif Hartelman who worked tremendously hard with Sam and the team for this fantastic result. It’s clear to see the Yamaha YZF-R6 is once again the best Supersport bike on the world stage.”

The Yamaha supersport machine continues to prove to be the bike to beat in both national and international classes. Mathieu Gines has wrapped up the 2013 French Supersport Championship on his Yamaha Supersport machine and Cameron Beaubier has secured the AMA Daytona Sportbike Championship on his and fellow AMA rider Tomas Puerta has scored the 2013 AMA National Supersport Championship title. As the last rounds are played out in a number of national series, the R6 is closing in on numerous other titles to add to 2013’s already significant silverware collection.